Glencoe flood memories linger

On Aug. 13, 1984, a storm system stalled over the village of Glencoe in southern Somerset County. The retaining wall that separated Wills Creek from Glencoe didn’t hold and the town flooded.

Charles Merkel, 37, saved five of his neighbors before he was swept under the flood waters. He posthumously received a medal from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. Pamela Sue Phillippi, 24, was killed after she was buried by debris. Her body wasn’t found until Aug. 19.

H.C. Raupach, then 84, was stranded in a tree for four hours before he could be rescued. His wife, Hulda, was hospitalized with chest pains. Four others were treated and released for lesser injuries.

In neighboring Hyndman, Bedford County, three men died when a 5-foot-high wall of water went through town. They were Robert Giner, 39, and Samuel Leydig Jr., 27, both of Hyndman, and Clyde Burley Jr., 40, of Bel Air, Md.

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The Glade City area of Meyersdale also flooded, but no lives were lost.

Two Glencoe residents recalled that day 25 years ago when their community was devastated. Tammy McKenzie and Heidi Keefer are sisters-in-law. McKenzie was 20 when the flood happened. Keefer was 15.

McKenzie was on her way to work at Ginny’s Restaurant in Berlin, but her car couldn’t get through because of high water on Glencoe Road. She returned home. Keefer’s father, Gus McKenzie, told them they had to go to higher ground. They removed some things from their barn — including a new lawnmower — and put them in the yard where they thought they’d be safe.

“My dad went up the railroad tracks — he knew the water was high — he wanted to check the retaining wall,” Keefer said. “He came back and told us we needed to get out. My younger sister Susie and I were outside. It had almost stopped raining — we were so grateful. We thought the water would recede. We heard what we thought was thunder. Susie started to cry. Dad said, ‘We need to get out. The retaining wall let go.’ We ran.”

Joe and Tammy McKenzie started going to elderly neighbors’ homes to encourage them to leave. People were going to the Glencoe United Church of Christ, which was on higher ground.

“One woman, I’ll never forget, was only concerned about her dog,” McKenzie said. “Nobody knew the magnitude of what was happening.”

Dan Bell and Joe McKenzie went to help H.C. and Hulda Raupach to higher ground. When the water started coming down the street, the men used a belt to secure H.C. in a tree.

“My husband picked Hulda up and put her over his shoulder,” McKenzie said. “He said it took everything he had. He kept yelling for help because the water was too swift for him to stand up. Mr. Raupach was hanging in the tree for four hours.”

That is one of Keefer’s most vivid memories.

“I remember hearing Mr. Raupach yell ‘Help me’ over the raging water — the water sounded like a train — for hours,” she said. “His wife kept saying, ‘Where’s Carl? Where’s Carl?’ There were a lot of heroes that day.”

Raupach was rescued and taken out by boat.

Keefer remembers seeing Charles Merkel save Martha Smeak.

“Charlie was there saving people forever,” she said. “I watched him put her up on a porch, then I saw him go under the water and he never came up. A lot is a blur.”

News articles from that day reported that Smeak said she and Merkel were floating by holding a two-by-four and when they got close to a porch, he yelled for Smeak to grab on. When she looked back, he had gone under water.

McKenzie remembers calling her workplace at 12:15 p.m. It was a Monday. No more than 20 minutes later, people were scrambling to get everybody out. They remember repeatedly counting people to make sure everyone was there.

People stayed at Larry and Beverly Hayman’s house or at the church. The Haymans’ gas stove was still working, so they were able to feed people. McKenzie called her aunt who lives in Mount Savage, Md., and asked her to send help.

“We had no help because they couldn’t get in to help us,” Keefer said. “Rockwood fire department finally got a rescue truck in to get us out. That was scary — I thought we’d be washed away in it.”

McKenzie remembers watching houses being swept away.

“I watched a house get lifted, turned and it landed on its side,” she said. “Another was jammed under the bridge.”

Keefer credits her dad for coming home to tell them to get out.

“He knew the creek and what was happening,” she said. “At 15, I couldn’t get my head around it. The day after, I thought we’d go back, clean up and move back in. We opened the door of the house and there was 3 feet of sludge.”

McKenzie realized Glencoe would never be the same.

“My thoughts were the town was ruined,” she said. “The community was ruined. I knew nobody would be coming back.”